Research & reports

Julia Spanier · Geoforum · Germany

A 2025 paper examines how community supported agriculture (CSA) performs and shapes rural-urban relations, based on four CSA initiatives in Germany. It finds that CSA does not automatically nurture "good intentions" between the urban and the rural, but can foster material solidarity and mutual understanding between urban consumers and rural producers. At the same time, it finds that hierarchical rural-urban relations, or rural/urban autonomy, may also be enacted within CSA, and that CSA can in some cases deepen processes of alienation between the rural and the urban, arguing that investigations of rural-urban relations in CSA must go beyond assessing producer-consumer relations alone.

Fernanda Tomiello, Sidney Gonçalves Vieira · Ciência Geográfica · Brazil

A Brazilian paper draws on Henri Lefebvre's ideas about the use and appropriation of space to examine the tension between domination, embodied in private property, and appropriation oriented toward collective, just use. Arguing for overcoming constraints that limit the appropriation of space and prioritizing human needs over market logic, the study analyzes the deterioration of green areas in Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, finding that the city's Green Area Index (IAV) falls below the recommended level, and proposes practices such as urban agriculture as alternatives that challenge capitalist logic and promote the appropriation of space as a right for all.

R. Jaishanker, Akshay Kumar, Mritunjay Pandey · Journal of Rural Development · India

This paper proposes the "Nalanda model," a paradigm linking rural and urban women in India through grow-bag rooftop farming: rural women prepare cow dung cakes that are stacked in grow bags with a sand-dung mixture as potting material, channeled through women's collectives to urban women who fill and sell the bags to urban customers. The paper presents this as a conceptual empowerment and livelihood strategy connecting rural and urban marginalized women rather than reporting field-tested outcomes or measured results.

Sarah Steinegger, Nora Katharina Faltmann · Journal of Political Ecology · Global

A qualitative study of a Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) initiative in Switzerland that links a rural mountain area with urban consumers (Journal of Political Ecology, 2025) examined institutional, organizational, cognitive, social, and experiential proximity between consumers and farmers despite geographical distance. The study found that consumers and farmers faced challenges in establishing proximity, but that shared experiences from farming activities and social events, along with participants' willingness to improve CSA operations and strengthen ties, contributed to an ongoing process of building proximity.

Takashi Shimofuji, Motoi Kusadokoro, Atsushi Chitose · Journal of Rural Problems · Japan

A case study of Welsh onion cultivation in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, used interview surveys of farm management and marketing channels in urban and remote areas to clarify how a farmer's choice of shipping destination in urban agriculture relates to cultivation size and post-harvest working hours. Urban farmers chose different marketing channels depending on cultivation size, and this flexibility produced differences in post-harvest work systems and in work efficiency measured as shipping quantity per work hour, whereas in remote areas cooperative shipping dominated, leaving fewer shipping options and smaller efficiency disparities among farmers. Urban agriculture's access to diverse shipping destinations let farmers select options based on production scale, which raised work efficiency for large-scale farmers in particular.

Lizhi Lu, Jue Cai · Planning Perspectives · China

A historical analysis of the Third Front period (1960s-70s) in China examines urban-agricultural integration in the industrial city of Panzhihua. Factory-operated agriculture established a labor pattern combining industrial and agricultural tasks that partially sustained workers, but the article notes this also produced tensions in worker identity and friction with external realities. The analysis is based on examining urbanization's characteristics and the interplay between individuals and their environment during this period.

Lafia N' Gobi GM, Moussa S, Falalou H, Degla P · Scientific Reports · ニジェール・ニアメ市（サヘル）

A study of how 150 urban pearl millet farmers aged at least 40 in Commune V of Niamey — an area the authors note is often overlooked in agricultural studies, since most work focuses on broader farming systems — perceive climate change and what they do about it. Respondents were reached by snowball sampling; data came from structured interviews, focus group discussions and key informant interviews with the Agricultural Extension Unit, alongside an analysis of 30 years of rainfall data (1991-2020). Farmers showed a high level of climate awareness over the past 30 years and had adopted both local and extension-based adaptation measures, and significant disruptions in rainfall were confirmed in the record. The adaptation strategies used were soil fertility regeneration techniques, crop diversification, crop defence, improved seeds, organic fertilizers, adjusted planting calendars, water conservation techniques, and prayers or rituals. Descriptive statistics, statistical tests and multinomial logistic regression were used to identify the determinants of adoption.

国土交通省 · 国土交通省 · Japan

Japan's Civic Green Space Certification system, based on Article 60 of the Urban Green Space Act, lets a private landowner who establishes and manages green space for community use obtain municipal certification for a management plan. Qualifying sites must be at least 300 square meters, have at least 20% greenery coverage, and be maintained for at least 5 years. Certified green spaces managed by a Midori Corporation receive a fixed-asset and city-planning tax reduction — in principle one-third off for 3 years (municipalities may set 1/2 to 1/6 by ordinance) — under a time-limited measure running through 31 March 2027.

国土交通省 · 国土交通省 · Japan

This MLIT page hosts MLIT's annual survey of city-planning designation status as of 31 March 2024, conducted with the cooperation of prefectural urban planning divisions. It provides open-data links to 14 categories of results — urbanization-area and district designations, urban redevelopment projects, location optimization plan status, and more. The page itself contains no aggregate figures; the numbers reside in the linked data files.

国土交通省 · 国土交通省 · Japan

This press release, published by Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism on March 18, 2025, reports the results of the 2025 official land price survey covering 26,000 points nationwide. The national average for all uses, residential land, and commercial land rose for the fourth consecutive year, with the rate of increase widening. Among the three major metropolitan areas, Tokyo and Osaka saw continued acceleration while Nagoya's increase slightly narrowed; regional areas rose for a fourth straight year, though the rate slightly narrowed in the four major regional cities (Sapporo, Sendai, Hiroshima, Fukuoka).

石井健太朗 · 大和不動産鑑定株式会社（DREA REPORT） · Japan

Published in April 2025 by Kentaro Ishii of Daiwa Real Estate Appraisal Co.'s Research & Marketing Department, this report analyzes Japan's 2025 official land price survey (as of January 1, 2025), based on MLIT data. It shows the national all-use average rose for a fourth consecutive year with an accelerating rate (+2.1% in 2025), driven by steady housing demand and strong retail/hotel demand in commercial areas. The residential land price increase was highest in Furano, Hokkaido, and the commercial increase was highest in Chitose, Hokkaido (site of semiconductor plant investment); among prefectural capitals, Naha posted the largest residential gain (+5.9%) and Saga the largest commercial gain (+9.0%).

Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) · Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) · United Kingdom

According to MHCLG's statistical release (published 9 October 2025), the extent of land designated as Green Belt in England as at 31 March 2025 was estimated at 1,633,220 hectares, around 12.5% of England's land area. This represents a decrease of 660 hectares (0.04%) from 31 March 2024, driven mainly by local authority boundary policy changes (650 hectares across six authorities) and digital boundary updates (10 hectares). By region, London has the highest proportion of its area designated Green Belt, at 22.1%.

Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) · Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) · United Kingdom

A technical note describing how the UK's MHCLG compiles official statistics on green belt land in England, collecting area figures as of 31 March each year from local authorities via the Annual Green Belt (AGB) return. The 2024-25 response rate was 99% across 177 local authorities, and prior-year area figures are subject to scheduled revisions.

European Environment Agency (EEA) · European Environment Agency (EEA) · Europe

According to this EEA indicator, water scarcity affected 28% of EU territory during at least one season in 2023. Although water abstraction fell 14% across the EU between 2000 and 2023, the area affected by water scarcity has not shrunk overall. Southern Europe experiences water scarcity year-round, with about 30% of the population in areas of permanent water stress and up to 70% in areas of seasonal summer stress; Cyprus and Malta are the most severely affected (seasonal WEI+ above 40%), with Greece, Romania, Portugal, Italy and Spain also notably affected in spring and summer.

· Wikipedia (español) · Spain

According to Spanish Wikipedia, the exact founding date of the Water Tribunal is unknown, though the most widely held theory dates it to around 960 CE, during the reign of a Caliph. It is made up of eight síndicos, one representing each irrigation community, one of whom generally serves a two-year term as president. It meets every Thursday at noon (except from Christmas to 6 January and on public holidays) at the 'Door of the Apostles' of Valencia Cathedral, with administrative meetings afterward at the Casa Vestuario on Plaza de la Virgen. It was inscribed by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage on 30 September 2009.

· Viquipèdia (català) · Spain

According to Catalan Wikipedia, the irrigated farmland (horta) of Valencia took shape in the Middle Ages under Islamic rule through the construction of séquies (irrigation channels) and assuts (weirs). The main séquies of the Túria river have been governed since Islamic times by the Tribunal de les Aigües, inscribed by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage in 2009. Eight séquies in the Vega de València draw water from the Túria and have historically supported orange, vegetable and rice cultivation, but many now run beneath houses and streets, with rice farming described as being in crisis as farmland is converted to housing.

Consell de la Generalitat Valenciana · Diari Oficial de la Generalitat Valenciana (DOGV) / BOE · Spain

A decree-law issued by the Consell (Valencian regional government) on 4 February 2025, published 5 February 2025, amending the 2018 Huerta law and its implementing plan (Decreto 219/2018) to simplify administrative procedures for reconstruction following the 29 October 2024 DANA flooding. It abolishes the Huerta Council and chapters on agrarian development planning and farm inventories, and relaxes urban-planning parameters for agricultural buildings.

· Wikipedia (Italian) · Italy

Parco Nord Milano is a roughly 640-hectare regional park spanning seven municipalities north of Milan, recognized as a regional park by the Lombardy Region in 1975. It contains over 350 hectares of green space with more than 100 tree species and diverse wildlife, managed by a consortium of the participating municipalities. It serves as an example of large-scale peri-urban green infrastructure.

· Wikipedia (Italian) · Italy

Cascina Linterno originated as a 12th-century monastic rural settlement and is a 13th-century Lombard closed-courtyard farmhouse now owned by the City of Milan and run by the Associazione amici della Cascina Linterno for cultural and historical activities. It is traditionally identified as the poet Petrarch's residence during his time in Milan (1353-1361) and is protected under both monumental and landscape preservation decrees.

東京都環境局 · 東京都環境局 · Japan

Tokyo's Green Plan System, based on the Tokyo Ordinance on Protection and Recovery of Natural Environment, requires development and building projects on sites of 1,000 sqm or more (250 sqm or more for national/local government sites) to meet a minimum greening standard. It cites heat island mitigation, air purification, and rainwater infiltration as goals, and publishes wall-greening guidelines and rooftop greening performance data.

東京都 · 東京都例規集 · Japan

Article 14 of the Tokyo ordinance requires developers building or renovating on sites of 1,000 sqm or more (250 sqm or more for national/local government sites) to submit a greening plan covering both ground-level and building-top (e.g. rooftop) greening to the governor before starting work, to report completion of the greening afterward, and to properly maintain the resulting green space. Enacted December 22, 2000, with the most recent amendment taking effect June 1, 2025.

国土交通省 · 国土交通省 · Japan

According to this December 12, 2025 announcement by Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, approximately 14.5 hectares of green roofs (equivalent to about two National Stadiums) and 4.6 hectares of green walls were newly installed nationwide in FY2024. Cumulative installations from FY2000 through FY2024 (25 years) reached about 633 hectares of green roofs and 131 hectares of green walls.

農林水産省 · 農林水産省 · Japan

According to MAFF's community garden survey results as of the end of March 2025, Japan has 4,273 community gardens with 188,713 plots covering 1,284 hectares nationwide. By operator type, local governments run 1,977, agricultural cooperatives 414, farmers 1,433, and companies/NPOs 449.

Bellini, A., Savo, V., Caneva, G., D'Amico, E., Casalini, R., Bartoli, F. · Plants (Basel) · Italy

This study analyzed vegetation on an unmaintained green roof in Rome. Spontaneous colonization produced 62 species across 18 families, with Asteraceae (19 species, 31%) and Poaceae (10 species, 16%) most represented. Therophytes (annuals) dominated the life-form spectrum at 35 species (56%). Geographically, cosmopolitan species made up 25%, Mediterranean species 38%, and alien species 15%. Some originally planted species, such as Thymus, thrived through summer without irrigation.

東京都環境局 · 東京都環境局 · Japan

This Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of Environment page describes the Green Space Plan Notification System, which requires developers building or expanding structures on sites of 1,000 m2 or more (250 m2 or more for national/local government sites) to file a green space plan and meet a minimum greening standard, under the ordinance on nature protection and restoration in Tokyo. The system aims to restore lost green space and mitigate the urban heat island effect, requiring prior consultation and post-completion reporting.